


When Tomorrow Came

by Amelia_Friend



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-BF canon fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24194377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amelia_Friend/pseuds/Amelia_Friend
Summary: The end after the End.Also known as; The story that will never be.
Relationships: Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Lex Foster/Ethan Green, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	When Tomorrow Came

**Author's Note:**

> I have the plan, I have the plot, I have it pretty fleshed out; I do not have the energy to ever write this.  
> So have a few thousand words of plan instead.
> 
> This is literally just my stream-of-consciousness planning out a story that I will almost definitely never actually write.  
> Maybe one day I will but I'm a fan of the idea here, so you get it in its current form

**Chapter One**

Story begins immediately after "What if tomorrow comes" - seven people (Lex, Hannah, Tom, Tim, Becky, Paul, Emma) in Emma's little five seater car isn't exactly ... comfortable - but the ride to Hidgens isn't a long one.

Emma drives because it's Emma's car, Hannah and Lex share the front passenger seat because they just got in first - the three adults and Tim sit in the back with Tim basically on his dad's lap, unwilling to let go..

Somehow Paul ended up in the middle seat - Tim and Tom on one side, Becky on the other. That's almost worse than the actual squishing

Initial Hidgens scene is almost verbatim from TGWDLM (Hidgens still thought it would be a musical apocalypse but in this universe the idea is just weird not almost sinister).

They've been in the house about an hour (Lex and Hannah are sitting very close to each other, neither really talking – they're also not entirely sure why they're there – it seemed like a good idea at the time, go with Mr Houston, but like, they're sat in some random old dudes house? wtf are they even doing; Tim is attached to Tom like a limpet, Becky is sort of close by not wanting to interrupt, not wanting to leave; Paul and Emma are drinking with Hidgens because the whole day has been a mind fuck and neither of them are in charge of pre-teens); when there's an alarm.

The planes they heard earlier (noise in 'what if tomorrow comes') were American airforce, but now Hidgens sensors have picked up a nuclear explosion [how? IDK. I'll work it out later]. The windows slammed, doors locked, Alexa telling everyone to go down to the basement (They do as 'she' says).

That's when Hidgens tells them that they won't open again for at least three weeks. Like yeah - nuclear explosion bad, but they can't go outside for three weeks? ~~[That sentence was definitely written pre-corona]~~

[Hidgens has enough to last himself years in the bunker - but now there's eight people not one so that'll be fun.]

Hidgens also doesn't know where the explosion was - it could have been in DC, which isn't great but has no health effects on them (assuming Michigan); it could have been down the street (unlikely, they would have been vaporised). Basically the automatic protections keep everything closed for three weeks - if there's another explosion, the three week clock will reset

So yeah - end of chapter one - there's the eight of them trapped in the bunker designed for one (I know working boys, but Hidgens doesn't exactly have friends nearby, He was probably planning on spending the apocalypse alone)

**Chapter Two**

The door to the upstairs locks behind them as they enter the basement, and they all look around - and this is ... where they are now

Initial room is average living room size – it's got a small kitchen towards the back but its covered in random stuff and the kitchen bit is kinda inaccessible. There's four doors (not including the entrance); one is a closet, one is the bathroom (toilet, sink, small shower), two are 'bedrooms' (there is technically a bed in each room, but they're more filled with boxes of random apocalypse stuff)

In the living room is a large sofa (where Hidgens has clearly slept on more than one occasion, a table with a dead houseplant and (most importantly) a keyboard, a small side table next to it covered in random papers (some work stuff, mostly working boys stuff)

{{I know - whole fic is about Ethan and yet - no Ethan. He's coming soon}}

Tim is still attached to Tom, and Becky is feeling awkward, so she tries to meet the other people she's apparently stuck with - the professor guy is off ... being insane? Paul and Emma are having a conversation she doesn't want to butt into, so that leaves Lex and Hannah.

Lex only knows Becky as that also kidnapped lady who then shot Linda in front of them - Becky's ... nice ... but she has no strong feelings about her either way.

Hannah is terrified of Becky

(And Tom, but Becky is the one that's there right now)

There was that whole song - which yes was like four minutes show time, but probably at least 30-45 minutes of irl time where they were literally hunting her - they would have killed her had Becky not accidentally injected herself instead

Hannah wants nothing to do with Becky, she's hiding behind Lex, and her hand goes to her head but the hat isn't there anymore. Becky ends up leaving - [does she remember what she did that day or are her memories while 'wiggly-dreaming' kind of a blur?] - and Hannah exhausts herself into sleep. It is like 2am at this point; and they've been at the mall since before 7, so probably up since like 6am or something. She's 13. She's tired.

Lex is also tired - physically and mentally and emotionally - but she can't sleep

Hannah is just sleeping in the corner of a room, Lex is sat on the floor by her side - a physical barrier between Hannah and the rest of the world - she's losing most of the rest of her identity she feels like, but the 'protect Hannah' bit is very strong.

She's just sitting there, staring off into mid-distance, stroking Hannah's hair - and Hannah is long asleep at this point - it's not for her anymore, it's entirely comfort for Lex - Hannah is here, Hannah is safe.

And she's trying not to think about Ethan

Except she does - she was tied up in some room in the mall, just ... left there, alone, with the corpse of Frank

And she tried calling for help - to move her or move him, because yes, she'd seen people die (that morning) they'd been strangers, or like people she vaguely knows by face but not by name or know anything about

But this is Frank, and she may not have always liked him, but she's known him for years and now he's dead and she saw him die, and he's just ... lying there, never gonna move again

And some of the cult people do come into the room - but they're not there to move her, or to move Frank. Linda is going to give a speech to everyone, and there are still like ... random corpses across the mall - most from the riot first thing, but a few executions similar to Frank.

And Linda ... doesn't really like the idea of corpses scattered everywhere - it's a health risk or something, and it's definitely not nice to look at - so some of the lower down members are tasked to collect the bodies and stick them all together in one room - may as well pick the room that's already got one corpse and one prisoner in

So Lex's hands are tied behind her back, and then to a set of shelves behind her - she can't really move anywhere

And they're just bringing corpses in.

There were 850 wigglys - and the line was backed up all the way to Nordstrom, plus Black Friday sales at stores at the Mall that were not ToyZone. So say there were 3,000 people at the Mall that day.

800 escaped with a wiggly. 1,500 escaped without a wiggly early in the day [2,300], that still leaves 700 people - and most of them ended up in the cult thing - but there were a good few deaths.

Say there were about 50-75 deaths (and that's on the low end considering how willing they were to kill Ethan / stab Tom, and that was pre-cult)

So there's just a continuous stream of people in and out, and they're just ... carrying bodies.

And Lex doesn't know the people - but these are still real people, and now they're ... not

And then it happens - dark hair matted with blood, pale skin covered in bruises, a leather jacket that she knows all too well, and a face that won't ... that won't be ever again

And it's Ethan - and they put him down with all the ceremony of the previous bodies (that is to say - none at all) - and he's in a pile with the others but she can still see his face

And it's still, and blank, and she can't reach him but she knows that he's cold - and she knows how much he cares about his appearance

And she wants to fix his hair, and fix the blood and it won't fix him but it can't hurt, she wants to make it better again

And Hannah? Where's Hannah

Ethan would not have left her behind - and Hannah is not here

And they bring in more bodies and Ethan is covered completely, and Lex still can't see him and she'll never see him again and he's gone but there's still no Hannah

There were two small ones that were brought in but they weren't Hannah - and that's the only thought she's got until she gets her hands on her sister again, is that Hannah is not in the pile - Hannah may or may not be safe, but Hannah is currently not-dead and Lex will do whatever she has to, to keep it that way

And Ethan is dead and Ethan is dead

And now it's closer to four am, and Lex has been awake since yesterday morning and her eyes are heavy and itchy and pulling down, and she wants to sleep but she's terrified of what she'll see - this is what her waking hours are bringing her, how will sleep be better

But her eyes are going anyway, and she's slumping towards her sister and in the last second of consciousness - she sees Ethan standing before her - the face she recognises, the eyes she does not - but then she's asleep, and there's nothing

**Chapter Three**

The plan was Lex gets almost crushed and the near death triggers a full Ethan vision – a la the Hannah one. This followed by a minor McNamara vision later is what starts her trying to summon Ethan back to the real world

But if it's a falling/crushing and only one person getting injured is a real improbability

So yeah - stealing your idea; Becky (and possibly a third?) also get crushed

And it's Becky who saves Hannah, directly putting herself in danger in the process

Like Becky would have been fine if she hadn't done anything

But she purposefully put herself in danger for Hannah's sake and that's what starts to get Hannah to stop being terrified of T and B

Seeing that the murder hunt isn't really then - this is really them

Also the nurse being the injured one when they really need medical attention is always a fun trope!

Who is the next most medically qualified?

**Hidgens maybe?**

**Or Tom with military training**

Maybe Emma? From traveling?

You pick up weird knowledge backpacking

**That’s sounds like something that’s right**

Probably a combination of all three!

**Hidgens has the theoretical knowledge, Emma the scrappy “here’s what can make it less horrible”, and Tom the “here’s all the exact supplies we probably need but don’t have in this bunker”**

That sounds like a plan to me!!

They all argue and all convinced their way is best but in the end everyone is okay

Who should be third injured? Paul or Tim?

Which is sadder and which works better?

Maybe Paul - then Hannah and Tim are left on their own together

And that's how the kids are the ones that become friends of a sort

Emma having to take care of Paul might be cuter and Tom with Tim would just be sad

Good good plan with the kids

Emma coming to terms that she does actually really care about Paul

You can say he's not your boyfriend. You brought him to family Thanksgiving day

He's your boyfriend

===================

It's the next morning – some of them are trying to clear stuff to make some food because hungry.

Hannah is in one of the bedrooms; Hidgens said there were some clothes back and she's looking for them, theres a weird noise but she kinda ignores them.

Becky just happens to be in the bathroom next to the bedroom when the ceiling starts to give way; Becky gets Hannah to safety (pushes her to the other side of the room, they have to basically dig a hole to get to her but she was safe over there). Paul gets hit by something which breaks his arm; and Lex goes there the second before something begins to happen and the noise triggers the black and white vision and she drops to the ground.

Then the crushing, big explosion stuff - it's ends as Ethan comes into solid view

The cause of the explosion/crushing was indirectly Hidgens fault - whether the other characters find out is undecided at this point

Chapter three begins with Ethan being Evil and being forced back by Lex and McNamara, then switch to real world and we have Tom Hidgens Emma doing medicine stuff badly, Tim and Hannah bonding, and other three unconscious and that's most of three?

Paul is least injured, he has like a broken arm or leg and a bunch of scrapes, and a bleeding head from where he hit it, but he blacked out for like four seconds - he (probably) doesn't even have a concussion, he's fine. (You know, besides the broken bone). Emma's still half beside herself

Lex isn't badly injured in the standard sense of the word - she's unconscious a scary while but that's a Black and White thing not an injury thing. Once she's awake she's fine and moving around pretty much straight away. Bunch of bruises painting a pretty picture down her back and limbs but she's fine

Becky ... Becky isn't great. She's also not unconscious long - but there's something "wrong" and she ends up having to walk one of the others - probably Tom - through minor surgery on herself, in that old trope that I love so much

Like a tension pneumothorax. I'm not really sure what it is, but it stops people breathing? And it's a common injury on TV shows where characters have to talk someone through it

Tim and Hannah are sent off to the other room (one of the bedrooms is what collapsed, the main room is now the medical room, the kids are in the other bedroom – like they're not an entire three metres away and can still hear everything)

Tim tells Hannah that his mum is dead. Hannah tells Tom that she wishes her mum was dead. At least then she wouldn't have to feel guilty about leaving. About running away to California

They vaguely know each other? There's like a four year difference, Hannah is in middle school, Tim in elementary - but the schools are side by side, they share sports fields and stuff and they've seen each other around

Maybe they were in the same after school programme for a while?

Tim in there while his mum worked and his dad was still away; Hannahs place was funded as part of those low- privilege schemes? She's literally a trailer kid.

But funding ran out, and then Tims mum died and his dad was home all the time so didn't need to go anymore, so they'd barely seen each other in a while.

So - 3 ends with Hannah and Tim becoming friends; Paul is fine (bar the broken arm currently splinted to his chest cos ... there's no way to plaster it, no painkillers beyond basic drug store stuff either. Luckily it didn't break the skin - they reset it - it hurts, a lot - be basically bandaged his arm to his body to keep it still to heal).

Becky is less fine (having talked Hidgens and Tom through surgery on herself while conscious and in pain (Emma dealing with Paul at the time).

After the B&W stuff with Ethan/lex/McNamara at the beginning; lex is just unconscious for most the chapter - she's breathing and there's nothing physically wrong with her and the three non-injured adults need to help the people they can help - so Lex is just sort of ... left on a bed? She's in the same room as Hannah and Tim - it's their job to like ... yell for help if she stops breathing/wakes up.

They're talking as they sit on the floor, backs to the bed where Lex is unconscious; trying not to think about Paul and Becky on the other side of the door - listening to Emma/Tom/hidgens argue about what to do, with occasional comments from Paul and Becky. (Paul gets more comments as time passes, Becky gets fewer)

Chapter 3 ends with Lex ... waking up. Like the whole dramatic - eyes suddenly fly open and they're awake that only happens in fiction.

**Chapter Four**

Chapter 4 begins with a really cute lex/Hannah scene because I want/need it too. The flannel idea from BF spoilers will probably end up in this bit because it's adorable and just the hint of sadness everything needs. (Flannel was Ethan's then Lex stole it, then Hannah stole it.)

It takes Lex a minute to remember what happened in the b&w, but when she does she tries to get immediately out of the bed/cot/boxes with a blanket on it (I haven't decided what level of furnishing the emergency bunker has). Hannah is all for this; it's Tim who stops her and calls for his dad - Lex says [something hurtful] to Tom accidentally-on-purpose when he won't let her get up. [probably Ethan related, cos it is technically a lex/Ethan story].

Lex tries to explain about the B&W, about Ethan and McNamara to all the adults (Paul has a memory of a memory of a dream at McNamara, things filtering from another life, doesn't mean anything in the long run just acknowledging the universes).

They ... believe that she believes this is real. They don't believe it's real. Hannah tries to convince them too but it doesn't work.

[Followed by proof scene - either Hannah or Lex using powers, or one or both see McNamara and in talking with him (which looks to onlookers like they're talking to thin air) they say something in passing about one of the other characters that they shouldn't have known?] Needs much much work.

Also Becky is just like ... lying on a table asleep/out with a tube in her chest at this point and everyone is arguing around her.

Paul is in a chair and keeps trying to stand but Emma won't let him - physically blocking him at times.

Tom goes from standing between Tim and the girls (when he thinks they're crazy) to standing beside Tim, but is never far.

Hidgens is regretting letting these people in his house.

Chapter ends with one character - probably Tom - saying he believes Lex (and Hannah), and Lex saying out loud her plan for the first time - she's going to bring Ethan back.

**(Question: can Hannah and lex see what the other sees in the black and white? Because if Hannah just sees lex screaming/crying that she didn’t mean to kill him while not knowing that she’s not talking about ethan, that would be extra sad)**

**(I guess Tom might be the next most affected by thinking that she killed Ethan when she didn’t really but Hannah would make it extra)**

**(if Hannah could see, maybe lex convinced her to not help and then with both of them trying they eventually get Ethan out and don’t kill him)**

**Maybe - physical contact means they see what the other sees, if not touching (skin contact) they don't see each other's 'visions'?**

Chapter five begins with Lex trying to summon something (anything) from the b&w but without it being life or death scenario, it isn't working, and Lex is getting more and more frustrated, and Hannah can't "see" what's happening but she sits next to Lex, a d gives her a hug, her head resting in the crook of Lex's neck, and that's the moment that Lex can do it

Chapter five is lex improving on magic, Hannah getting visions again, Tim complaining about food and Becky getting worse

Because Lex's connection with the b&w allows her to summon, Hannah's power is foresight, but it's usually clouded

Hannah would not be able to summon, but can help Lex focus her power. Lex cannot get glimpses of the future, but can help Hannah see more clearly

In chapter six, Becky is literally on deaths door, Lex summons something that will save her, but has to mentally fight Ethan in the process.

Paul, Emma and Hidgens need to do something in chapter six

but what??

**(Play chess with commentary from Emma and insight from Hidgens that lines up with that lex and Becky are going through)**

**(Unless you want them to be trying to save Becky after realizing that she can’t live without help, then maybe hacking into Hidgens’ security system)**

Main plot for the middle - Lex working on summoning, McNamara helping, Ethan showing up every so often to taunt her / in her dreams to haunt her, Hannah gets random visions.

McNamara discovered by wiggly, captured, [in process of being tortured? Or something] Lex tries bringing McNamara from the b&w and accidentally straight up kills him. By accident. She meant to save him. Either way, he doesn't reveal any information to Wiggly/ the sniggles / Wiley.

Lex summons Ethan successfully, but he's brainwashed.

He tries to kill her, stops himself because Hannah, gets unbrainwashed, then ending begins.

Paul/ Emma sub plot - them being happy? Trusting each other and working really well together. Because that'll be sad.

Tim spends a lot of time following Tom and Hannah alternatively

Tom and Becky haven't seen each other since they broke up til today. There's a lot they still need to learn/ relearn about each other.

Becky loves kids (pediatric nurse) but never wanted her own and now she's got a future step kid and how Becky and Tim ... bond of a sort.

But this fic takes place only over ten days or so.

Hidgens does ... Science stuff? When the plot calls for it. Music stuff/ chess stuff that one Hallie scene (tysm) / has a drink then is put in charge of the kids cos the adults don't know he's had drinks - when the plot doesn't need him

Every time Lex summons something from the b&w, it makes a tiny permanent fissure between the worlds - she doesn't know this, no one does.

When Ethan is pulled through (so after lots of practice, and after the failed McNamara) something else comes through with him - a sniggle or something. They trap it but can't ... do anything with it.

Ethan becomes unbrainwashed - the sniggle escapes - tries to kill everyone, succeeds in killing Paul& almost Emma.

Wiggly tries to come into the bunker, and the group has to consider whether to 'self-destruct' the bunker - all still trapped inside - or risk wiggly getting out

Ethan - now free - probably tries to do something heroic to 'make up', Lex tries to stop him - it's Hannah and Tim who save the world in the end

the adults are willing to sacrifice themselves. Well. Maybe not hidgens. But they don't want to sacrifice Tim and Hannah

at least one character will perma-die in the last battle tho. I just ... haven't decided who yet

I was leaning towards Paul or Emma tbf

They think they're both gonna die but then only one of them does, and the other has to ... live on

A main sub plot of the fic ends up being Paul and Emma - and Emma trusting herself and trusting Paul and they love each other dearly and then Paul is murdered by a sniggle in the final battle, in the final chapter. No b&w summoning. Just ... dead

after Paul breaks his arm in the ceiling collapse, Emma worries so much, and Paul looks her in the eyes, and promises he's not going anywhere, he's fine, and he's dead like ten chapters later

Because Paul was killed because of the b&w, he ends up in the b&w - Lex 'sees' him, in Wigglys grip

But by this point they've just learnt about the fissures, and if they try to pull anything else through it'll shatter the barrier between worlds and allow Wiggly free reign on the earth with no way to return him

Wiggly always knew this, that's why he allowed Lex to take Ethan - the crack the worlds

They work it out between McNamaras final moments, the sniggles psychotic ranting, and Hannah talking to Webby

But lex Hannah Ethan doesn't tell anyone, and Emma is trying to get Lex to bring Paul back (cos obvs)

They use the sniggle to force into the b&w and turn the barrier solid (turning permeable glass into a solid black wall - Lex will never summon again, Hannah will never see the future again)

Paul is not brainwashed - Wiggly wants them to bring him back

So there's a scene where Emma is trying to stop Lex and is listening to Lex parrot Paul goodbye from the b&w - Paul knowing he's going to be stuck there, Emma not accepting it yet

They save the world and they lose Paul

They escape the bunker and make it to the above ground. And what world have they saved?

Implying like war is in full force, but no specifics and that's where the fic ends

Oh and if I ever finish it and there ends up being a sequel the barrier between their world and the b&w is shut forever. The b&w isn't the only world out there. Also in this world Emma is dead, and alone Paul and alone Emma get together in the end after a lot of "youre not my Paul/Emma". like Pete & Jackie Tyler in doctor who but takes a little longer

Was Hidgens still planning for a musical apocalypse in this universe, or did he predict the wigglys?

Either way there is a keyboard in the bunker - probably won't play it within the story confines.

Oh and there'll definitely be a scene at some point with Hidgens playing the keyboard - the kids, maybe Becky is enjoying it - and Paul walks away. Just walks away decidedly

Oh yeah - I need a nightmare scene for Lex at some point due to the fact that she was tied up in a room which was then filled with dead bodies, including her boyfriend's. And in the nightmare Hannah (and the rest of the bunker group but mostly Hannah) is a dead body there too


End file.
